The Lagos State Government, through the Lagos State Electricity Board (LSEB), says it is providing solar power to 172 public secondary schools and 11 public health centres (PHCS).
General Manager of LSEB, Mr Mukhtaar Tijani, made this known during a news briefing on Tuesday, September 9, 2020 in Ikeja, the state capital.
Tijani said that the increasing energy demand in the state due to expanded civilisation and increase in population had led to concerns over the limited energy resources.
He said that the focus of the government was on a sustainable energy supply which entailed optimised use of energy to minimise pollution.
According to him, the government is committed to transforming the city’s electricity landscape and make it the pride of the nation and Africa as a whole.
“The approach to achieving the 2030 target on Sustainable Development Goal 7 which emphasises affordable and clean energy in the state has been captured in the developmental agenda of the present administration.
“The making of Lagos a 21st Century Economy entails enhancing and facilitating access to clean energy technology including renewable energy, as well as advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel energy for the state.
“Part of the effort to improve the energy mix is the Lagos Solar Project which is an initiative that is focused on implementing stand-alone solar power solutions for public facilities.
“This project is currently providing solar power to 172 public secondary schools and 11 public health centres (PHCS),” he said.
Tijani said that while the solar components were currently undergoing routine maintenance, the aim is to deliver additional solar systems to rural, riverine, and public secondary schools located within the rural areas.
He said that at present, Lagos State Electricity Board managed over 1,300 kilometres of public lighting across the state.
The General Manager said that in a bid to ensure that Lagos streets continued to enjoy improved public lighting at night, the board had intensified maintenance and surveillance of major access/link roads that serve communities.
He said that this was an assurance to Lagosians of quick response time to complaints on streetlights in different parts of the state.
Tijani said that effective measures were taken in the rejuvenation of public lighting in Lagos.
He said that some of the measures included replacement of non-functional streetlights, rehabilitation of others and an introduction of LED lights.
“In addition to this, the state will in no distant time embark on the retrofitting of street lights from High Pressure Sodium Bulb (HPS) to Light Emitting Diode (LED).
“This initiative is an energy efficiency scheme that will advance the street lightening project of the state.
“While a sustainable energy future requires structural reform and the facilitation of technology transfer, the four pillars of development – economic, political, social and the environment – must be considered during policy formulation.
“This is because sustainable energy resources must be economically viable, politically supported, socially equitable and environmentally acceptable,” the LSEB boss said.
He said that the board would conduct energy audit for facilities across the state with the aim of developing comprehensive master plan that would serve as blueprint towards investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology.
Tijani said that this procedure was expedient as it provided the opportunity to assess the current energy level and needs of the state.
According to him, this will provide means of expanding the capacity to meet the desired needs as it will cut across all sectors of the state.
“The first phase of this exercise has been completed at state-owned healthcare facilities, educational institutions, waste management facilities, parks, water works, sports, theatres and cinemas across the five divisions of Lagos.
“We would not be limiting the audit to government and public facilities as the strategy is to incorporate the private sector to harmonise all energy sources in the state and have an inclusive management plan that will cater for future expansion,” he said.
By Florence Onuegbu
